Process of cooling



C. H. BEDELL AND G. E. EDGAR.

PROCESS OF COOLING, VENTILATING, AND RENDERING INNOCUOUS STURAGE BATTERIES. APPLICATIQN FILED NQV. 30. 19|5.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oEFIoE.

CHARLES H. BEDELL AND GRANT E. EDGAR, OF NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT,

ASSIGNORS TO ELECTRIC BOAT COMPANY. OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORA- TION 0F NEW JERSEY.

PROCESS OF COOLmG, VENTILATING, AND RENDERING INNOCUOUS STORAGE BATTERIES.

Application led November 30, 1915.

[o aZZ whom it may concern.'

Be it known that we, CHARLES H. BEDELL` and GRANT E. EDGAR, both citizens of the United States, and residents of New London, in the county of New London and State of Connecticut, respectively, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes of Cooling, Ventilating, and Rendering Innocuous Storage Batteries; and wedo hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The underlying process of the present invention, as well as an illustrative system which will presently be disclosed as suitable means for carrying out the process, may be described briefly as a safety means for use in connection with secondary or storage batteries, having the following four advantageous characteristics, to wit, a ventilation of each cell interior. a cooling of each cell and hence of the entire battery, a negligible evaporation of the electrolyte, and such a treatment of the generated gases as to make them non-explosive.

It is well known that the usual practice in connection with power plants of submarine boats is, whenever possible, in order to maximize the cruising radius, to employ a power unit other than the storage battery generally present. Thus, when a submarine boat is running on the surface, it is desirable to use a heat engine. The secondary or storage battery equipment of the boat is used as its motive power at times when it is not practical to run the engines, as when the boat is submerged and under way, and a recharging thereof is periodically necessary.

The present invention is especially adapted for employment aboard a submarine boat, because of the fact that, in connection at least with the charging of such types of storage batteries as are in common use in submarine boats, during the latter part and toward the termination of the charging operation, gases are generated to a specially dangerous extent in view of the fact that a portion of the charging current produces a decomposition of the water of the electrolyte into oxygen und hydrogen. There re- Specication of Letters Patent.

Patented -Aug. 19, 1919.

serial No. 64,380.

sults a physical mixture which consists of two parts of hydrogen to one of oxygen.

This mixture unless greatly diluted 1s a highly and imminently dangerous explosive. Gases are also to some extent given of during the discharge of lthe battery and when it is idle. Therefore, the employment of the present process, in connection with the power equipment of a comparatively delicate and greatly complicated vessel like a submarine, furnishes an eflicient and dependable safety-means to reduce anxiety and peril at all times. More than this, any embodiment of the invention will naturally be of great coinpactness, simplicity, and co operativeness throughout, and Will avoid rapid evaporation of the electrolyte while permittin the battery to be charged very rapidly without overheating. i

The said features of coinpactness, simplicity and coperativeness are due to the fact that one preferably continuous and pressuredriven How of atmospheric air simultaneously cools the battery units. causes a ventilation of the interior of each of said units, and properly dilutcs the explosive mixture freed partly by such ventilation. The aforementioned reduced evaporation is primarily due to the fact that, unlike a practice which has heretofore been employed, the air neither flows over the surface of the electrolyte nor traverses any portion of any cell interior. We have found bv actual installation and test that when a attery is treated in accordance with our invention the evaporation of the water is reduced to about onequarter. The high rate of charge ermitted by our invention, which by actua test we have found to be twice the rate heretofore safely possible, is due mainly to the high cooling efficiency attained: which, furthermore, decreases evaporation' and `therefore helps ventilation. While the air flow which we employ is thus cooling the cells, thereby among other things working asabove, suc flow is itself causing a ventilation of the intcrio'r, of each cell unit, and such ventilation helps the cooling. Moreover, decreased evaporation means less free moisture. The less .such moisture, the less chance of sparking. While thus making remote the possibility of a spark to set et! the explosive mix-l ice turc, the saine flow of air,.in addition toits cooling and Ventilating work, is itself aiding in the dilution of the explosive mixture so as to prevent cuen such a s )arlr'from becoming effective relatively df-t c mixture.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will appear or be specifically referred to hereinafter, as a description of the process and the disclosed ine-.ins for carrying it out proceeds.

T he adaptability and value o thc` invention being as aforesaid so marked in connection especially with a submarine boat, the accompanying drawings in ipart disclose a type of apparatus, employable in carrying out/the process, asbeing associated with portions of certain structural elements of a sub- Ymanine boat. .ln-these drawings,-

Figure 1 isa side elevation of such apparatuspcertain-parts ofthe apparatus and ofsaid structural elements being shown in section;

iFg. 2 is a horizontal sectional View, Vtaken onthe line,2-2 of Fig. 1 and showing the battery cells and their covers in top plan;

Fig. 3 is a vperspective 1vfiew of an upper `portion of one of said battery cells, isolated from its fellows;

Fig. al is an enlargedudetail view` partially inscction, of ra battery-closure plug and its connections to the ventilation ducts;

Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional view, taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 3 after said cells ver has been equipped with the device of F ig. -l and positioned onlsaid cell in operative relation to one of thethree longitudinally and parallelly arranged exhaust ducts shown in-planin Fig. 2;

Fig. (l is a vertical sectional View taken on .the line (i-G of Fig. 5; and

Fig. 7 is a schematic View or diagrammatic illustration of the basic features of the process itself.

In `first describing the system or apparatus here selected as one by the use of which the present novel process may advz'intageously he carried out` reference will preliminarily be inade to Figs. 1 and 2. The numeral S indicates a supporting deck within the sub- .lnarine This deck 8, togetherwith the walls or partit-ions J and 10, establishes a battery compartment the greatest dimension of which runs fore and aft of the submarine. This lay of the compartment is desirable, for the reason that fore and aft room is that which is always the most available in such craft. This fact is given due recognition in the present embodiment hy locating the Ventilating siila-compartments 14 at the ends rather than at the sides of the main compartment.

liach of the cells l2 is preferably provided with a plurality of vertically arranged outer grooves l2 shown iuost clearly in Fig. 3. The thickness oi' the cell wall at these grooves and its thickness at the ribs between the grooves are so related to the size of the rover 13, as disclosed in Figs. 5 and 6, that when a cover is placed on the cell and there supported in any suitable manner, the edge portions of the cover will overlie the cell walls but will not close the grooves 19". ll-.nh cell 1Q is here supported upon a plurality ot' fret or stools 12". A shelf 14 is mounted and arranged at each end of the cell compartment, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, to establish the sub-compartments 14a. Each ot' the shelves 14 is pierced by a depending pipe or conduit 15. The lower end of each pipe 15 opens into the upper interior ot' the sub-compartment 14a which it enters and theupperend of each pipe 15 communi- Cates with a force blower 16.

lVith the cells 1Q generally rectangular .in cross-section, and duplicates with reference to exterior conformation, and arranged as shown in Fig. 2, each cell is flanked on all sides by vertically arranged slots. All these slots are open top and bottom, and. thus form, with the space beneath the cells 12, avenues of communication between theisubcoxnp-.ntnients 14a and the upper .portion of the battery compartment. The net result of this arrangement is obviously that with an adequate flow of cooling air through said grooves and slots, so fed for the `purpose through pipes 15 and into sub-compartments 14a, each individual cell will be effectively cooled on all sides.

A main upstanding duct 17 is connected at its upper end to an exhaust blower 18 (see Fig. 1), and terminates at its lower end, as best shown in Fig. 2, in a connection with three parallel branch ducts 19. Each ol' the branch ducts is closed at its free end, and cach of them along one of its sides is provided with a series of properly spaced pipi-s 19', each communicating with the interior of a battery-cell through connection 3l and plug 20 having the upstanding nozzie 2U. Plug 2O is of a familiar construction and has u tube 220 depending centrally into an interior plug-chamber containing a cylindrical balilc partition 20 and a series ol baille plates 20 in the path of the gases [lowing from the inlets 20 through the plug to the `ventilation conduits. For the purpose of adapting this plug to the principles of our inventionrby admitting the cooling air to the ventilation conduits without passing it ner the electrolyte. and thereby effecting the ventilation by aspiration while rendering the gases non-explosive by dilution, we forni the inlet apertures '20g in the nozzle 20 as shown. The lum of the cross-sectional :irons ol apertures '20 should be at least of such gas-passage capacity. relatively of thi` gas-passage capacity ot' the interior diameter ol' said tube. 20, that upon an actuation of the blower 18, the .nnount of air drawn into connection 91 will dilute the oxygenhydrogen mixture so as to make it n'on-explosive. We have found that seven or eight times enough air thus to dilute said mixture is required to obtain the desired cooling effect; therefore au adequate supply of diluting air is always assured.

Each of the cells 1Q, in accordance with practice, is of course constructed, and preferably molded, of some insulatingr material, such as hard rubber; and the covers 13, the connections 21, and the ducts 17 and 19 are also preferably constructed of insulating material.

The blowers 16 and 18 are rcferably operated simultaneously and bot at hi h speeds during the charging operation. i ince the present system is shown applied to a submarine boat, and since the chargin operation is presumably being conducto during the boats stay on the surface, there will be no difliculty in obtaining an air supply for force blowers 16 or in arranging for a discrsal exteriorly of the boat of the gases rawn off by exhaust blower 18. When the vessel is submerged, however, preferably merely one of the blowers is operated at high speed or two or all at low speeds, for then, the battery is not being charged and the gases generated are reduced greatly in amount. It is preferable during submergence to continuously operate at least one of the blowers, as we have found that the gases drawn oil' and diluted may be exhausted interiorly of the boat without evil eifects. The air from the force blowers 16 enters subcompartments 14 (Figs. 1 and 2), passes beneath cells 12 (Fig. 2), and ascends through grooves 12. The cells are thereb thoroughly and continuously cooled, or one thing; but, for another, of equal if not greater importance, there is being fed to the upper portion of compartment 14, which may now be given the reference number 14h (Fig. 1), a continuous fund of air, for diluting and drawing ofi' by its passage into and through nozzles 20 the dangerous cell gases. Each operating blower is working to draw oli' the generated gases through each plug 20, as rapidi as these gases are formed, and the effect o the arrangement described is to destroy the dangerous mixture of such gases, by drawin into a branch duct 19, at the very point w creat said mixture is entering such a branch duct, and at each of said points in degrees properly varying aerording as the amount of explosive mixture drawn otl' at a particular point of nozzle connection varies, suitably great quantities of air to render innocuous the drawn-oil" gases. lt will be seen that by the means disclosed a pressure-driven current of air performs all thc operations just mentioned. without causing evaporation of the electrolyte andwith4 out entering the interior of any cell-unit. It will be seen, too, that no explodable mixture can form in the ducts or elsewhere exteriorly of the cell-units, the potential difference of' each of the cell-units being usually but two and one-halfl volts.

The process itself, then, may he described broadly as consisting of the following steps, or any sub-division or combination thereof, iu the order given or any other order, or simultaneously, when coming within the scope of the invention as indicated by the ap ended claims.

4 irst, cooling a cell or a plurality of cclls of a storage battery by passing atmospheric air over the exterior surfaces of said cell or cells; then admixing such atmospheric air with the explosive or other gases generated during or as the result of a charging operation performed upon said cell or cells in a proportion suitably predetermined so that the final mixture will be non-explosive; the mixture of the said generated gases with said atmospheric air being preferably an independent mixture for each cell and occurring adjacent and simultaneously with the drawing-off of the generated gases from said cell and occurring as the result of directing the generated gases toward a stream of said atmospheric air at a distance from the interior of said cell; said atmospheric air being preferably pressure-driven. Thus, in Fig. 7, there is merely disclosed a pair of cells A each located in a compartment B; into the lower portions of these compartments, say from a distant source beyond the arrow C, atmospheric air is flowing as indicated by arrows D, rst passing over and without coming into evaporating contact with the interior of either of the cells A, Ventilating such cells and becoming admixed with the generated o'ases flowing as indicated by the arrows so as to create, adjacent each arrow E, a harmless mixture which passes on, as indicated by the arrow G, for dispersal elsewhere.

In closing this specification, it is deemed important to incorporate a specific statement, in view of the importance of the invention and because of a desire to avoid undue multiplicity of claims, of a present recognition of the force and benefit of the doctrine of equivalents as to the process, as to structural details, and especlally as to the gasmixing means defined herein.

`We claim 1. The improved process of treating storage batteries which consists in establishing and sustainin a current of cooling air about the cells of tide battery and out of contact with the electrolyte therein. subdividing the current of cooling air into separate streams one for cach cell, withdrawing the cell gases from cach cell and mixing cach stream with the withdrawn cell gases lfrom one of the cells to dilute the cell gases from each cell separately.

2. -The improved process ot treating storage batteries which consists in subdividing a current ol air into separate streams which pass over the exleriors ol. the cells to cool the same, then permitting the streams to blend and mix, guiding the lenerated cell gases t'roni each cell so that such cell gases are isolated from the other cell gases, and permitting a portion ol' the blended and mixed streams to dilute merely a collection of cell gases from one of the cells; meanwhile maintaining the cooling and diluting air out oi' contact with the. electrolyte in the cells.

3. The improred process of treating storage batteries whirh consists in establishing and sustaining a current ot' cooling air about the cells of the battery and out of contact with the electrolyte therein, subdividing the current of cooling air into separate streams one. for each cell, withdrawing the cell gases from each cell, causing each stream to mix only with the withdrawn cell gases from one, of the cells. and guiding said streams into one main streaaa while applying ;pres sure to the main stream to convey 1t to a suitable point of discharge considerably re moved from the cells.

4. In a storage battery system of the class described, in combination with a compartment and a storage battery cell thereln, a duct communicating directly with the interior of said cell and leadin to a point exterior to said compartment ihr drawing off the gases generated within the cell and provided with an opening above the top of the cell through which gases from another source may be sinmltaneously drawn into the duct; said duct and said opening being so proportioned and designed that the explosive gases drawn into said duct will by the admixture therewith of said gases drawn from another source be so changed as to be made non-explosive.

ln a storage battery system of the class described, in combination with a compartmeutl and a plurality of storage batter cells ot' the individually closed type in sai compartment, ducts for drawing o' the gases generated within the, cells and discharging said gases at. a point exterior to the. cornpartment. each duct being provided with an opening' above the top of its cell, and means vfor causing gases from another source to pass through the openings tor subsequent passage through the ducts away from the interior ol' the cellsI and for simultaneously causingr the gases generated within the. cells to enter the ducts l'or subsequent passage therethrough away from the interiors of the cells.

G. ln a storage battery system of the class described, Ln combination with a battery compartment and a storage battery cell therein, a duct leading from lsaid cell for drawingl oft1 the gases generated within the cell and for discharging the gases at a point exterior to the compartment, the. duct beingr provided with au opening intermediate its ends through which gases from another `source may be drawn into the duct, the duet and opening being so proportioned and designed that all the gases in the duct beyond the cell and the openingin the duct will be so adniixed as to be made nolrexplosirc` eonduiting means t'or said gases Jfrom another source so arranged and disposed that these ases are preliminarily caused to tlow over die outsides of the cells to cool the same, and pressure establishing means for drawing said gases into the ducts and mixing them therein as described.

7. In a storage battery system of the class described, in combination, a eellcompartment, a cell therein, an inlet passage leading into the lower part of said compartment, an outlet passage leading from the lower to the upper part of said compartment whereby gases `flowing therethrough may cool said cell, a passage lea'di from the gas-zone interior of said cell an( leading through the upper part of said compartment to the exterior thereof, and a transverse aperture in the last-mentioned passage, whereby the gases flowing from the outlet passage will enter the aperture, avoid entering into the cell, and mix with the gases in the passage leading from the gas zone interior of the cell while passing through the last mentioned passage toward the end thereof exterior to the compartment.

S. In a storage battery system of the class described, in combination, a bank of cells, covers on the cells, upstanding nozzles carried by the covers, a' duct overlying said bank of cells, said duct being closed at one ond and having an exhaust blower connected to the, other end, and branch passages connecting said nozzles and said ducts, each ot said nozzles placing in communication the interior of its cell and the interior of its branch passage and each of said nozzles being provided with an opening above the top of its cell, in the case of each nozzle the gasiiassage capacity of said opening bein;r greater than the gas-passage capacity ot said nozzle.

9. ln a storage battery system ol the class described. in cmnbination, a bank of cells. covers on the cells, upstandingr nozzles carried by the covers, a duct overlying said bank ot' cells, said duet being closed at one end and haring an exhaust blower connected to the other end, and branch passages counecting' said nozzles and said ducts,each ot said nozzles placing in communication the interior of its cell and the interior ot its branch passage and each of said nozzles being provi-ded with an o ening above the top of its cell, in the case o each nozzle the gaspassage capacity of saild opening being greater than the gas-passage ca acity of said nozzle, means being rovided or supplying cooling air about sald bank but at a point removed from said openings.

10. The improved process of treating storage batteries which consists in establishing a current of air which is subdivided into a plurality of streams, one forjeaeh cell of the battery, and mixing each stream of air with the gases from the corresponding cell Wliile keeping the stream of air out of contact with the electrolyte in the cell so that the ases are diluted by being mixed with air an are carried off from the battery by the air.

In testimony whereof we aiiix our signatures.

CHARLES H. BEDELL. GRANT E. EDGAR.

copies of this potent may be obtained for ave cents each, by addressing the Uommissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

